Jorito

Sounds good to me.

A few things that work very well for me: I only take the lead stuff (melodies) from the source track and forget about the rest (e.g. chord progressions, basslines, etc.). Up-front I usually already have an idea for the genre/style I want to do, and I usually try to push myself to try new things and make the genre different from what the source track uses (e.g. make an orchestral Megaman track in stead of a more stereotypical rock arrangement) Arrangement structure is flexible; why stick with the exact structure that the source uses? No problem in turning the B section into a verse section, the C version into a chorus and use the A section as a solo, for example. In general, I write like 8-16 bars and then think "okay, I can either go more intense or less intense from here", make a judgement call based on that, and just run with it. Try to make it an organic part of your process and just treat it as an original, I guess (there's a reason I call my remixes "originals with stolen melodies"). Hope this helps some.

The same goes for me; the track vision always has been one with vocals, and the track was produced as such. An instrumental version is not what I envisioned, and hence it would feel incomplete. It's like asking for a track without the bass or the drums because you don't like them; a bit silly, IMO. Fair enough if you don't like the track as-is, but asking for a molested, incomplete version isn't exactly what most artists would be on board with, I imagine.

Fun fact, I almost did repurpose it for Hometown Heroes! By that time I had already been talking with Odai for a bit and the Terranigma album was showing some vague hints of life. I guess it worked out great in the end; I got to do a few cool tracks for Hometown Heroes *and* for Terranigma!

Sorry

It's in the (third) sticky post:

Quick update: all tracks are now mastered and the album package has been submitted for evaluation yesterday. Now we wait

Sure, you can EQ it too, but it’s pretty common to use different amps (or amp models) and settings for the rhythm guitars, and that, combined with 2 separate performances (one for left, one for right) make it sound full already. If you use midi guitar, changing the part slightly between left and right (e.g. by changing some velocities and timings) will be a big help, rather than simply copy/pasting the part. Same for when you record from a guitar; I am assuming you are not a robot and that the parts will sound slightly different anyway. I’d recommend to try this first; you can always make it more complex later (better to start simple IMO).

Will do. There’s also some other people on that list I could reach; I’ll give those a whirl too.

I can try reaching out to Sir J and Tuberz if needed, just holler.

Typically? A different rhythm guitar performance with different amp settings/amp model hard panned left and right. Lead guitar in the center. Pay attention to the bass and make it play nicely with the rhythms to give it depth and that typical low metal sound. Optionally you could look into quad tracking, but essentially it’s a variation of the above.

For all the people lurking along: we just cleared our final deadline and have a total of 29 completed tracks now! Next steps are getting these tracks mastered and then package everything up and send it over to OCR staff for the next steps later this month. We'll keep on updating the thread with further info as we go along. Stay tuned

I am not a Windows user, but it sounds like your regular Windows playback system is using a different output device that probably has some effects/processing on it. And that doesn't seem to happen with ASIO. I'd probably check the Windows audio drivers and/or processing settings in Windows Media Player and have a look at what other apps might be running (for example in the system tray or whatever it's called these days).

I always encourage album artists to submit their track to the OCR panel for evaluation independently. You don't even have to wait until the album is released; just mark in your submission email for which album it is, and staff will take care of it. With regards to your other question, the album director(s) get to pick a handful of tracks (usually 5) for the mixflood that will be posted to promote the album. These 5 tracks will be vetted by OCR staff (they have to meet the bar of course) and typically will be published in 2-3 batches in the first week of the album. Any other album tracks that you see getting posted are always individual submissions by the artists themselves; as album directors we only choose the handful of tracks for the mixflood. As always, what tracks get posted when is up to OCR staff discretion of course. And to answer the unasked question: I don't know yet which tracks we will select for the mixflood We will do our best to select those 5 tracks that we feel represent the album and the game best, and of which we think they'll promote the album best, but since not all tracks are done yet and me and Trism haven't discussed this yet, we don't have a selection narrowed down right now.

Yep! 24bit/48khz please!